Applying The Truth and Running the Race Purity 1495

Welcome to the MT for Christ 24/7 podcast. I'm M.t. Clark, and this is today's photo. To see today's photo, go to mtforchrist.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter, or watch us on YouTube. Good morning. Today's photo of a cascading waterfall in the lush green foliage on the banks of an unknown mountain stream comes to us from a similarly unknown Facebook friend who shared this scene on social media, uh, back on September 3rd, 2023. If this memory is yours, let us know where, where this was and who you are, and we will photo credit you on the blog after the fact. I'm guessing it's a Fred Dimmock original, but I don't know that for sure. Well, it's Tuesday and it's Election Day here in the US, and the one thing that is certain about the presidential race is that the outcome is uncertain, as I have seen polls forecasting conflicting results. They can't both win, so I guess we will see what God's will is tomorrow. That's right, we may not know why things happen the way they do, but if something happens, it, it, it happens underneath our Heavenly Father's watch. And although the outcome may perplex us, they don't surprise God as he shapes the pathway of his story to meet his will. Understanding God's sovereignty, uh, will help us, uh, accept the hard truths of life, death, and suffering, and should cause us to find peace with him through faith in Jesus Christ, because simply there is no other way to the Father according to Jesus. After I settled on today's photo, uh, I thought of looking up waterfall quotes and found this one by Turkish playwright Mehmet Marat Ildan, who writes, a waterfall cannot be silent, just as wisdom. When they speak, the voice of power speaks. Well, Ildan thinks of himself as somewhat of a philosopher, I guess, but states that he only believes in existence, pure love, and a friendly God, a personal unknown God, the universe. And of course, strongly believe in Almighty Science, capitalized it by the way. Almighty Science. And he wrote, the real hero of humanity, our only chance to survive in this chaotic universe, Almighty Science. Unfortunately, Ilden is deceived or just plain wrong. And just like his proverbial waterfall that cannot be silent, Jesus, the embodiment of truth and wisdom, spoke powerfully when he proclaimed in John 14:6, where he said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. God isn't the universe. He made it. God isn't unknown. He revealed himself in his creation and with his interactions with mankind that are detailed in the Bible. God came in, in the person of Jesus Christ, and it is only through faith in him that we can be saved. Jesus is the real and only hero of humanity, and unless we put our faith in him, we perish. And just like that proverbial waterfall that cannot be silent, I speak out to share this message because I know it is true. And more importantly, I've applied that truth to my life. You know, do we really know anything unless we demonstrate our knowledge of it by living according to it? It is one thing to intellectually know that seat belts can protect us in car accidents, but that knowledge doesn't do you, uh, do anything for you if you don't apply its wisdom wisdom by buckling up. Similarly, in our walk of faith, God directs us to his ways of living, and if we seek to flourish, we would be wise to take his path rather than going and running our own race. Uh, the In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley devotional for today, uh, touches on this topic, and so I'm sharing it on the blog today to encourage us to follow the right path instead of chasing after waterfalls of the world's nonsense. Dr. Charles Stanley writes, Running the Race of Faith. All believers reach a finish line in life. Are you running to receive an eternal, eternal prize? Imagine you're running in a marathon and one of the athletes decides to pick his own path. He keeps up, he keeps to the 26.2-mile race standard and sets his finish line in the same spot as the official one. But he picks routes with fewer hills and competitors. His plan seems excellent to him. But when he crosses the finish line, there will be no medal or ribbon awaiting. Uh, the— that would certainly be a silly thing to do. Yet we can fall into this very trap when we decide the course of our life instead of running the race God sets. By submitting to his will, we remain on the right path. But the moment we revert to old habits or start making decisions based on our own wisdom, we go far afield. Whether believers run the race God's way or their own way, they'll reach a finish line, but that doesn't mean it's the same one. No one wants to look back and realize, I didn't run the course meant for me. I accomplished nothing of value. The only true lasting and worthwhile deeds are those done for the Lord in the power of his Spirit. And thankfully, no matter how far off course we veer, the Holy Spirit is still present. He reminds us of the right path and gives us the power to get back on it and persevere. That was from Dr. Charles Stanley. When we decide to put our faith in Jesus, we may be under the false impression that a proclamation of faith or prayer is all I have to do, and that we just, we can just go about our business just like we have always, always have, but now with, but now with the fire insurance that keeps us out of hell. Um, that is a distortion of the gospel. God didn't send Jesus to die for us so we could continue as we were. God saves us to bring us into his family and to represent his kingdom, to not only forgive us of our sins but to free us from them. Uh, when Christ calls us, he calls us to follow him into a new life. But we can be deceived and believe that our ways of doing things work, so we can just carry on as we always have. Choosing our own path. But God has a better way for us to live, and the Holy Spirit is now present in our lives to guide us into it. The ways and things of this world will fade away. Only the things that we do that give God— glory to God— will stand. So seek God's will for your life and follow the Holy Spirit's leading to find the path that you were meant to walk. We can discern our way into God's path by the fruit we find along the way. His way leads to goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, self-control, love, joy, and peace. His path may not be easy to follow at first, or ever, but it always leads us to peace and closer to him. So run the race of faith, but let's make sure we are on God's path for us and not our own. Today's Bible Well, let's see. Yeah. Oh, oh yeah, I normally, I review two devotionals each morning, In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley and Turning Point with David Jeremiah. And if the Spirit leads me, I use them in the blog and will text them to some brothers I have in Christ. Um, this morning I was torn over which devotional to share from, and in case I got it wrong, I'm sharing the link to David Jeremiah's message today that calls us to understand that God, the God of all creation, is thinking about us and our lives in individually. Um, it is an awesome message, and if you need, need it, uh, the link for it is on the blog. So God bless you. Um, it's a great message. You should check that out as well. I just didn't— yeah. Anyway, today's Bible verses come to us from The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on giving, and today's verses are 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, which say Uh, now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints. And this not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. Today's verses are the first of three passages of scripture that fall under the second point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on giving. And that second point is the Lord wants us to give generously and cheerfully. Today's Bible verses highlight the churches of Macedonia that despite affliction gave generously to others because of their faith. Paul states that they gave themselves to the Lord first before they gave to others, and that is the picture of how it should be. We don't prove our faith by giving money. We prove our faith by giving ourselves to God, and then we are drawn to give to others from the abundance of his love. So give yourself to God and see where he is calling you to give to others. As always, we encourage everyone to go to mtforchrist.com, where we always share from— share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture. Today's chapter is Revelation 16, and from that chapter he shares a portion of verse 21. Which says men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail. And Stephen Allford writes, one of the most amazing things about the judgments that are foretold in this book is that they enrage those upon whom they fall to even greater degree. Notice especially the 17th chapter. Of course, the people upon whom these judgments will come will be vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Those who have deliberately chosen to rebel against God. Thus, like Esau, though they should seek repentance with tears, they would not repent. But in spite of this, it is very important to note that the negative side of the revelation of God very rarely turns man to repentance. On the other hand, the goodness of God leads men to repentance. Romans 2:4. And Stephen Alford prays, oh, that I might reach men with the goodness of God before they become the focus of the judgment of God. Amen. Amen. And, you know, there's, there's wisdom in Alford's words here. Um, you know, as much as I say, you know, the only way to be saved and not go to hell is to put your faith in Jesus Christ, I also try to implore, you know, impress upon people that that God's good and he's got a better way for your life, and he can lead you into freedom and victory and peace, love, and joy. That's the good news of God. And, you know, I tried to— try to give a full message by, you know, proclaiming that a warning that we need to have our sins forgiven, we need to be accepted by God to be saved. But, you know, that's That's where we come into the kingdom. And then after we become sons and daughters of God through our faith in Jesus Christ, God gives us a new life, and that life should be filled with joy and peace. But, um, we don't know this, and we don't— and if we choose not to follow God's ways, we won't understand it. So that's why we always ask the question, have you fully surrendered to God? Have you given yourself— before you give to others, you give yourself to God. Um, have you given yourself to God? And if not, we encourage you to do so, and to do so increasingly as you follow the Lord. Um, you know, God's will is good, and he'll lead you out of the darkness into his light and, um, give you peace, love, and joy. You know, um, he will also lead you to do good works in his name.. And one of the good works that, uh, he's led me to do is lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church, which meets at 6:30 on Wednesday evenings in the K-3, third grade classroom, uh, for Christian recovery and discipleship. And if you're in Upstate New York and you can get to Clifton Park at 6:30 on a Wednesday, we invite you to join us, uh, where we teach how, how to walk in the Spirit and how to overcome your hurts, habits, and hangups. Through your faith in Jesus. Anyway, we also are offering a men's support group this, this, uh, November, um, in 2 weeks, uh, essentially. We are beginning Grace for the Holidays, which will be an online teaching and support group for men on Mondays, 6:30 PM online. If you're interested, go to mtforchrist.com and look for our group teaching events page, and you'll be able to register for that. Um, you know, the cost is $60. It's basically $10 a week to get together with Christian men, go over Christian teaching, and encourage each other, you know, as we go from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Um, beyond that, we're looking ahead to the new year, and, uh, you know, we are going to lead another Freedom in Christ men's course online, uh, Tuesday night, 6:30 PM, beginning on January 7th. Um, that might seem like a long ways away, but I got to give you a heads up, registration is now open, but it ends on December 9th. So you have to register before December 9th, um, basically in order to get into the class. So go to ficm.org, look for their online courses, and look for the Freedom in Christ men's course. Uh, that'll be on Tuesday night, 6:30 PM Eastern Time, to, uh, to join me on your path to freedom in Christ. Um, let's see. And well, if none of those things apply for you, if you're a woman and can't be a part of men's ministry, um, we believe— or if you're a man who's not available those times— we believe you can find or increase your freedom in Christ by joining one of our podcast classes on YouTube. And we encourage you to check them out on our playlist page. Um, you'll be able to find Victory Over the Darkness, The Bondage Breaker, Freedom in Christ, Celebrate Freedom Discipleship, course and many other resources there to encourage you to follow the Lord. That's it for today. And when we end, we always ask, are you empty for Christ too? Have you emptied yourself to be, you know, got, you know, be, you know, to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Have you made space for God in your life? If not, we encourage you to pray. If so, we say keep on walking and talking with God. We know that prayer works because God is with us. And you know, when you pray for something and it's according to his will, it will come to pass. And so that's why we pray every day, like right now. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. We thank you so much for all that you do for us, Lord. Uh, Lord, we pray for you to guide people today to vote according to your will. It will be done. Uh, the winner is decided by you. And, uh, Lord, we thank you for that beforehand. Um, we're not sure which way it'll go, but, uh, we know that, you know, it'll be, it'll be according to you, uh, as it will, either for a judgment or as a, as a blessing. And, uh, we're not really sure what's going to happen there, Lord. But the one thing we are sure, Lord, is that we trust you to do what's right. So, Lord, we just pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us in the way we should go. Um, Lord, we also pray for anyone who's listening or reading today's message, that you'd come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith, Lord, because, uh, we all need your help, and, um, we're asking for it today, Lord. Lord, we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.